Meteorologist killed in water sports accident

[Peter Potvin]

Around 4:30pm on Saturday, 6/29/19, Meteorologist Michael Robert James, 40, of Boulder, Colorado, was killed in a water sports accident at the Buena Vista River Park. This was confirmed by the Chaffee County Communications Center. Several private citizens and boaters attempted rescue, to no avail.

For those of you who don’t know who Michael is, he worked at Unidata as a Software Programmer/Engineer for AWIPS. He also worked as a Professor at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma.

May he rest in peace.
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Link to the original press release by the Chaffee County Sheriff's Office: Arkansas River incident - Chaffee County Sheriff

 

[Jeff Duda]

Wasn't aware the guy was an academic meteorologist! Yikes.

Anyway, a local Colorado paper also covered it here: Stand-up paddler dies Saturday on Arkansas River, marking Colorado’s eighth water death of the season

 

[Dan Robinson]

Michael was a chasing veteran and a regular on the old Lightning email listserver that I was a member of in the late 1990s. He had a few well-known storm images including several taken on the OU campus.

His work can be seen on his Flickr account:

lightning

Explore this photo album by michael james on Flickr!

www.flickr.com

 

[Mark Blue]

Of all years I knew the Arkansas and other rivers were going to be wicked and scary this year with the snowpack and runoff. I didn’t know him but I’m sure he had friends and family like everyone else. My thoughts go out to them during this most difficult time after losing their loved one.